Hi Maryanne and neighbors. Just wanted to respond to Maryanne's question to the group because it is a common one. I am an attorney who works for a judge; given my role, I can't engage in partisan political activity or offer advice about particular judges. But I feel strongly that judicial races are some of the most important races out there, yet it is often difficult to find information, especially for retention elections. The truth is that no matter how you vote, judges are almost always retained and the public pays little attention to these races most of the time. Nevertheless, it is one of the only forms of oversight the public has over judges. Here are some ways to gather information about judges, whether retained or running for the first time: (1) Ask your attorney friends about their personal experiences with the candidates; (2) Some ratings of the judges might be found here in this 2016 survey of attorneys regarding judges: http://www.acba.org/Portals/0/pdf/16ACBASurveyFinalReportRevisedSigned.pdf (3) Check out the Allegheny County bar association and/or Pennsylvania Bar Association recommendations and candidate questionnaires. ACBA: http://www.judicialvote19.org/ PBA: http://www.pavotesmart.org (4) Google to see if the candidate has filled out a questionnaire for special interest groups or has had cases covered by the news; (5) If one really wanted to get in depth, you could search reported opinions by judges , but often these databases require subscriptions and this option is obviously very time consuming. Amy On Fri, Oct 25, 2019 at 8:52 PM Maryanne Hugo <hugohastings@comcast.net> wrote:

I printed up a sample ballot for the coming election - and was stumped by the question of retention for 14 judges. How does one make a decision about these people? Does anyone know of a site to learn about their performance?

Also - the race for school board for district 2 is an important question for us - but I have heard nothing about either candidate. Any idea of their positions?

Thanks neighbors - for any info!

Maryanne